UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

FAREWELL CEREMONY

FOR

ATTORNEY GENERAL EDWIN MEESE III

The Great Hall

Department of Justice

Washington, D.C.

August 4, 1988 PRO C E E DIN G S

MR. CHRISTENSEN: Good morning. Today we honor

Edwin Meese III, the 75th Attorney General of the United

States of America.

We in the Department of Justice welcome General

Meese, his lovely wife Ursula, family members and friends.

I Would you please rise for the presentation of the colors?

[presentation of cOlors.]

MR. CHRISTENSEN: Please join me in a round of applause for the Joint Armed Forces Color Guard and the

United States Army Band.

[Applause]

Thank you.

It is both a great honor and a distinct pleasure to participate in this farewell ceremony. My regret is that it comes too soon. I had hoped to help Ed turn out the lights at the Justice Department next January.

My association with Ed and Ursula in Washington has been very pleasant. I have observed Ed as a capable leader and an effective and a dedicated public servant, and Ursula as a charming friend. This association has been too brief. It was only last April when I first met the Meeses.

They were in Cali.fornia to attend the funeral of a close

friend. Ed invited me to meet with him in Pasadena, saying

it would be easier than for me to travel to Washington. This

is but one example of his consideration for others.

He had me met as I deplaned, not at the airport,

but at the plane, driven to his hotel, switching cars en

route to avoid reporters trying to talk to him. It was a new

experience for a country lawyer. FBI agents scrambling radio

communications, back entrances to the hotel.

We talked for over an hour. I was impressed with

Ed's warmth, geniality, intelligence, and his great sense of

humor. I decided on the spot that I would come to washington

if given the opportunity.

I have at no time regretted in the slightest that

decision. My association with Ed and Ursula in Washington

has exceeded my California expectations.

It has been a pleasure to serve you, Ed, and the

Department of Justice.

Recently, the Salt Lake Tribune published a cartoon

captioned, "The Ascension of Saint Ed." We were able to

obtain the original from the artist and, on behalf of the Office of the Deputy, I would like to present it at this time.

[Applause]

May I now introduce Francis J. Keating, Acting

Associate Attorney General.

MR. KEATING: I think by the time we are finished,

Mr. Attorney General, your ears are going to be sore, and you had better have a very large wall.

I want to say, as Hal Christensen did, that we all expected eventually, all of us, to leave, and eventually, all of us, to say goodbye to each other. This is a departure, this is a goodbye that is too premature, as far as I am concerned, because I came here to serve you and work with you. And the very few moments and the few months that I have been here, I found that to be a rich and rewarding personal and professional experience. Kathy and I have high regard, and always will, for you and Ursula. We always will regard you as friends, and we hope that throughout your lives you will regard us as friends.

It has been a real experience for me to work with you in the drug war. You have provided the leadership; the farsightedness, the professionalism, the care that this war deserv·es. And I for one, I think, will speak for the enforcement community when I say that without you we would not have the p,rog'ress that we have, and we are grateful.

I have two presentations for you, and again hoping that you are expanding that wall as we .talk -- the first is a presentation which I think will permit you to best remember the agents and the bureaus that work for you. This is a shadow box consisting of all of the badges of all of the agencies that you oversaw and provided leadership to during the course of your service as Attorney General.

[Applause]

And the next presentation is something I know he has always wanted, because we are, at this time, considering

legislatively the cre'ation of a "Drug Czar, It as you know.

Those of us who hav~ been iri the war know that we already have a Czar, and that is the Attorney General. The only thing we haven't done is crown'him. Here is your Czar hat.

[Laughter and Applause]

MR. CHRISTENSEN: Thank you, Frank.

May I now present Charles Fried, Solicitor General of the United States.

[Applause] MR. FRIED: Thank you, Hal. Ed, Ursula, colleagues, friends, everybody knows the Solicitor General deals in nothing but words so that's all I am going to be able to present you. I suppose there are many who think that we only know one word, which is no. But that's not true.

I am very glad to be able to talk at this moment about the best memories of three and a half years of working for the Attorney General.

First of all, I want to mention, because I think so many of us have experienced it, his unfailing kindness and concern to people in moments of grief and personal difficulty.

That concern has always been manifested in a quick and instinctive way, which is way it has always been affecting and why it has produced the result and the comfort that it's meant to.

More institutionally and, I hope, leaving an enduring legacy, has been Ed's great interest in ideas. I remember the conferences which had been instituted at the

Attorney General's direction on federalism, on economic liberties, on separation of powers and, just a couple of days ago, the so-called summit meeting with the criminal bar.

At all of these meetings, the thing that impressed me -- these are meetings in which outsiders with a large variety of points of views were brought in and great free exchange of ideas, the Attorney General would sit rather quietly, taking notes -- I was about to say like a three-year law student, but that would be wrong like a first-year law student. And at the end of the conference, he would deliver , ! a summary which sometimes reminded me of an oral examination which he was responding to. And I would always grade that exam A plus.

There was an ability to listen, an ability to learn, and an ability to take away ideas and work with them, which I think impressed everybody_

And the second set of memories, which are very much like this, but had a different setting, was whenever there would be discussions of difficult legal issues, either in a large group of just one on one personally, those discussions would inevitably totally destroy the Attorney General's calendar, because, set down for 15 minutes, they would last for an hour to an hour and a half, and they would last that long because it was clear that what Ed Meese enjoyed doing most was getting into the heart of a legal problem and talking about it, and working out the details, and thinking it through. And I imagine he enjoyed that a good bit more than whatever else was coming next on the schedule.

There is a story which I am reminded of, and, if we weren't in the family and it weren't such a close group, I would worry that it was indiscreet, but I am sure it is safe in this small setting.

Where I had made a decision which ~n important person, not here on the stage, disagreed with, and that person, he or she, appealed the decision to the Attorney

General. And it was a fairly sizable meeting to hear that appeal, and I made my pitch, and this important person made his or her pitch.

And that pitch was in terms of constituencies, and the Hill, and political this and policy that. And the

Attorney General was going through there -- I don't know whether he actually would lick his finger -- and said, "But how does the exception clause work with Section A? And then there's the definition in Subsection (b)." And he would not lift his finger from that page of text. And the decision was made on the basis of what was on that page of text.

I will always reJllember that occasion with a smile, it will be a smile of pleasure, and very great affection. Thank you very much, Ed.

(Applause)

MR. CHRISTENSEN: I would now like to introduce

Douglas Kmiec, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Office of

Legal Counsel.

[Applause]

MR. KMIEC: There are certain valu~s or aspirations which guide all of our lives. For some, it is the pursuit of wealth; for others, power; and for still others, prestige.

In the Office of Legal Counsel, neither wealth nor power seem realistic or, for that matter, desirable. So we content ourselves with the satisfaction of sharing in the prestige and tradition of an office which has prided itself on delivering, over a long history of many Attorneys General, the highest quality legal advice with candor and directness.

Yet, as the fable the Gree~ messenger taught us long ago, being the honest messenger can sometimes have its price. It is, however, a price that OLe has never had to pay during the tenure of Attorney General Edwin Meese. Forthright in bringing legal and constitutional questions to us, A~torney

General Meese permitted this office "the unfettered opportunity to exercise even-handed professional judgment in supplying answers to those questions, even when he or others in the

Administration may have wished that the results of our efforts wez'e at times friendlier to a given policy.

On a personal note, I have found Edwin Meese to possess all the qualities identified by Henry David Thoreau as befitting a true philosopher, not just of law but of life.

To be a philosopher, wrote Thoreau~ is not merely

to have subtle thoughts, but so to love wisdom as to live accordingly to its dictates a life of simplicity, indepen­ dence, magnanimity and trust.

As Edwin Meese leaves the Department, there will be many journalistic efforts, I am sure, to assess his contribu­

tions to .our efforts .. Perhaps, as that occurs, it is worth

pondering the words of another American essayist contemporary with Thoreau, who wrote, liThe man who is anybody and who does anything is surely going to be criticized, vilified and misunderstood."

This is part of the penalty of greatness, and every

great man understands it, and understands too that it is no

proof of greatness. The final proof of greatness lies -in

being able to endure such criticism without resentment.

I know Ed Meese returns to private life without resentment. And in that lies the final proof of his great­ ness. Not that you need it, Ed, but I have every confidence that Scott has put in a good word for you and that God will bless you and your family in the days ahead.

[Applause]

MR. DENNIS: For those of you who don't know me,

I'm Ed Dennis, Chief of the -- Chief of the €riminal Division

-- Assistant Attorney General, Acting Assistant Attorney

General for the Criminal Division.

[Laughter]

I've got to get it straight. It changes from moment to moment depending on what the Senate is doing.

Mr. Attorney General, I have served with you here in

Washington a scant two months. When I made the 140-mile journey from Philadelphia on June 1st -- actually it was made the 31st because the Attorney General had a staff meeting at an ungodly early hour on June 1st, I traveled here among a swirl of controversy and under a pressure of potentially hostile scrutiny.

I pride myself on being able to handle pressure.

After all, that is the environment in which a trial lawyer must function and function well. But never in my career have I experienced the kind of relentless anxiety that charac­ terized my return to Washington. And when I become anxious,

I become completely self-absorbed. My mind thrashes about to resolve the conflicts I face, real and imagined. I ignore my family, I ignore my friends, I ignox~ uay colleagues, and I find little solace or rest.

And yet, when I look back over the: past two months, and I begin to feel sorry £or myself, I realize that you had

lived with that pressure, and a thousand times more, and for years. And you had not become self-absorbed, and you have not ignored your family or your colleagues or even the drivers in the carpool. If anything, you nave been generous with your time and have used it to lift up ·others even as you were under the tremendous pressures of your office.

I recall vividly how you took the time to call an

Assistant United States Attorney in Philadelphia to congratu­ late her on a case that was not of national interest. I

hadn't requested you to call her. You didlo."'tt:. tell me you had called her. I learned of it severa! days later from Philadel­ phia.. In fact, 1 joked with the assistants in the office that Jeanne Damirgian, the assistant in question, I'm sure when she was told that she had a call from Ed Meese, said, "Yeah, and I'm Whistler's Mother! Who is this really?"

[Laughter]

I'm sure that's how the conversation went.

But this was not done for effect. And I need not cite the many examples of genuine personal kindness and thoughtfulness that have characterized your tenure as

Attorney General. They are well known.

Your empathy with the working men and women of this

Department is genuine. If the law is a jealous mistress, then public service is a temperamental one. One minute she is showering her favors upon you, and the next minute she's filing for divorce.

I have known the former, and I fear that eventually

I may confront the latter.

Mr. Attorney General, I know you have been drawn to public service out of a deep sense of high purpose. And though you have ascended to high office, you have not lost a sense of graciousness, humor and candor in conducting your affairs. You have not given way to arrogance, the disease that power often breeds.

My mother taught me Rudyard Kipling when I was a child, and that may seem ironic given his infamous observa­ tions about the white man's burden and all that. But Kipling also wrote of walking with kings and not losing the common touch.,

I have witnessed in you t General, the embodiment of that ideal.

Good luck and my sincerest best wishes to you.

[Applause]

MR. DENNIS: And now it is my pleasure to introduce

John R. Bolton, who is Assistant Attorney General for the

Civil Division, and he will speak on behalf of the Civil division, as well as for Tom Boyd, who is the Assistant

Attorney General for the Office of Legislative Affairs but, unfortunately, couldn't be here in that he is shepherding

Governor Thornburgh through the process.

MR. BOLTON: Thank you, Ed.

It is a mixed emotion to be here today, with pleasure certainly in wishing Ed Meese best wishes, but with real sadness as he leaves.

I think it is probably wrong, however, to say he is leaving the Justice Department. I think it is better to understand that he is simply moving to another battlefield.

This is a man who has never been afraid to make hard decisions. And after all, for those of us who are political appointees, if we are not willing to make hard decisions, what are we here for? He has made very, very difficult decisions, and whether you have been. on the side within the Department whose advice he has accepted, or on the other side, it has always been a pleasure to present your arguments to him.

I think it is important that all of us recognize these hard decisions. Because it is by that kind of action that a person's reputation is made.

Most recently, for instance, he has directed the

Department to write corrective legislation remedying the

Supreme Court's decisi.on in the. McNally case, where there were difficult considerations, difficult competing considerations, of law enforcement on the one hand, and states' rights on the other.

He made the decision last year that the Department should oppose the reauthorization of the independent counsel statute on constitutional grounds when an easier course might have been s±aply to let the courts decide.

In what I think was the most courageous decision of all, he recommended to the President in 1986 that the President assert executive privilege during the confirmation hearings of William Rehnquist.

Speaking of competing considerations, we had there the President's nomination of the next Chief Justice on the one hand versus the critical importance of Executive Branch officials being able to communicate in confidence among

themselves. And through his guidance and le~dership, we were

able to attain both objectives.

On a more personal side, I don't think I've ever worked with anyone more willing to listen to opposing points

of view. Having been in any number of meetings with him where his decision seemed to be going against the position

that I had urged, I have many times said, "Ed, if I could just

try one more argument along that line. tI And he would listen.

And not only would he listen, he would respond. And I don't

think that anyone can ask for anything else from a boss that

they do that.

Tom Boyd, had he been here, would have told another

story, about being in Springfield, Illinois, on a cold

November night in the rain, where the Attorney General had

attended the swearing-in ceremony of a new U.S. Attorney, and where, without the klieg lights and without the press around, he spent 10 or 15 minutes out on the tarmac talking to the

law enforcement officials who were there and had guarded him through the evening, purely on a personal level, no publicity at all.

That is the mark of somebody who really cares about the people who help him.

And in addition to that, and I thi~k perhaps many of the career personnel here in the Department don't realize

this, he has taken a deep and abiding interest in the

Department as an institution. And many of the decisions that

he has made, although reflected only in cold budget numbers,

really do embody a concern for the people and the institution of the Department of Justice.

I am grateful and honored for the opportunity of

having worked with you, and I look forward to doing so again.

Now I have three things to present. The first, on

behalf of the Civil Division, is a button with a little

yellow dog on it. This little yellow dog is a Republican,

however, and it represents those institutional concerns that

I mentioned to you before. The caption of it is "Amicus is My

Best Friend," and indeed it is.

[Laughter and Applause] The second, not to be unwrapped here for a prepared delay, is a set of Jefferson cups, and I must confess I have to move for an extension of time within which to engrave them, but I hope the court will grant that.

[Laughter and Applause]

And then third, and this is on behalf of Tom Boyd and all my former colleagues in the Office of Legislative

Affairs, an embossed copy of the annotated Constitution of the United States.

I should say, Ed, in this presentation, there is good news and bad news. The good news is that last term's

Supreme Court decisions are not in it yet. The bad news, which I found out only on reading it really this morning, the cover page says that this is prepared by the Congressional

Research Service. So the next time it comes out it may be somewhat thinner with Article II gone.

[Laughter and Applause]

But in the meantime, I would like next to introduce

Rick Rule, the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the

Antitrust Division.

[Applause]

MR. RULE: Thank you, John. Attorney General, Mrs. Meese, friends and family, colleagues.

It has been an honor and a privilege personally to serve with you, Mr. Attorney General, for the entire period you have been here.

You are one of the true leaders of not just this

Department but of the entire Administration and of the Reagan revolution.

You know, it's easier to shoot at a target that stands still rather than one that moves, and you are known for taking stands. And that has been an inspiration to all of us who have been down in the trenches, to see someone who

is willing to stand up for the principles, even when it was difficult to do 50.

And while this town can be a very unfriendly and,

in many ways, a cruel town, I think that with the passage of time, all will recognize your tremendous accomplishments and the great job you have done here in the Department, and for

the country as well.

Specifically for me, being that we deal in a

somewhat esoteric area of the law that's out of the main­

stream, I've seen Ed Meese's accomplishments in a little different area. And that is with respect to what this Administration has done in the area of economic regulation generally and for the economy as a whole.

Ed Meese r in large part, was responsible for bringing a respect from markets and for individual economic decisions to the Government, and institutionalizing it. This

Administration, in large part with Ed Meese's leadership when he was over in the White House, has done a tremendous amount to ease the burden of red tape and other bureaucratic costs that in the past have been imposed under the guise of regula­ tion.

In antitrust, the Administration under President

Reagan and Ed Meese, have also scored, I think, a tremendous and long-,lasting victqry. In ~act, I think one of the truly outstanding and long-lasting victories of this Administration.

In the courts now, the Supreme Court, not since 1984 has really disagreed with the position that we have taken on an antitrust issue. They not only adopted our positions and positions urged by the Attorney General, but they have also adopted the rhetoric and the rationale as well. It is a tremendous achievement and one that will last long beyond this Administration.

Ed Meese was in the forefront urging us to be clear with what the rules of antitrust are, and to stick to those that make sense, and that make sense under a sound cost­ benefit analysis. We no longer bring the giant cases that cost literally hundreds of millions of dollars. to the economy, that dragged on for years, show pro-competitive conduct and were doomed to failure.

And perhaps the most overlooked thing is the positive accomplishment, the positive record that Ed Meese's

Justice Department has built up in this area in terms of particularly criminal enforcement, something that I am very proud to have been involved in. And it was due to the leadership of Mr. Meese. And it's a record that far exceeds anything in the past, and I think will be very difficult for people in the future to live up to.

Mr. Meese, the Antitrust Division wants to present you with a plaque, and let me read i~. It says to "Edwin

Meese, III, Attorney General, 1985-1988. In appreciation for his outstanding leadership and support of competition policies in antitrust enforcement during the Reagan Ad­ ministration."

I notice, too, that you're wearing the likeness of the person, the author of this quote I am about to read. Now, some of you who may be familiar with antitrust may have heard the first part of this quote. But it's important to take the totality of th.e quote into consideration because, in some ways, even though it was written over 200. years ago, it provides a good summary of what this Administration and what this Attorney General has stood for in the area of antitrust.

It says, "People of the same trade! seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversa­ tion ends in a conspiracy against the public or in some contrivance to raise prices."

It goes on to say, lilt is impossible indeed to prev'ent such meetings by any law which either could be executed or would be consistent with liberty and justice.

But the law cannot hinder people in the same trade from sometimes assembling together, it ought to do nothing to facilitate such assemblies, much less to render them neces­ sary.­

And I think that's a standard that we have lived up to under your leadership, Mr. Attorney General.

Thank you.

ATTORNEY GENERAL MEESE: Thank you very much.

[Applause] MR. RULE: It is now my pleasure to introduce the next speaker, Roger Marzulla, who is the Assistant Attorney

General in charge of the Lands and Natural Resources Divi­ sion.

[Applause]

MR. MARZULLA: Thank you very much, Rick.

I would like to incorporate by reference everything

that has been said thus far.

I would also like to add, as I guess one of the

real old-timers in this group, some perspective to what has occurred here.

One would think that with all of the ink that has been spilled and all of the videotape that has been filmed on

the subject of the Justice Department in the last couple of

years, and on the subject of Ed Meese in particular, that we would know everything that had occurred and, indeed, a good many things that had not occurred here at the Justice

Department. And yet I would like to let you in on a couple of secrets.

Under Ed Meese~s direction, the Environmental

Enforcement Section of our Division has increased by 210

percent. I don't think you've read that anywhere. At least I haven't. It has brought last year in excess of 300 environmental enforcement cases, almost as many as in the entire four years of the Carter Administration.

It procured the reauthorization of the Superfund

Act in 1986, with the strong support of the Attorney General.

In 1981, he helped design and indeed authorize the formation of the Environmental Crimes Section. Prior to that time, there had been sporadic or no enforcement of the environmental criminal provisions of the statutes.

He was instrumental in assisting in putting together the international protocol and protection of the stratospheric ozone layer which was signed in Montreal last

December. And he's strongly supported the cases in which we have at.tempted to defend those effort·s, the Strategic Defense

Initiative, home porting of nuclear aircraft carriers, MX missiles, and emergency communications to protect our nation's defense, efforts which have largely gone unsung.

There is a much longer list. However, I trust that this gives to you folks some sense, and perhaps my one opportunity to say in the presence of the Attorney General, thank you, sir, for your support, for your encouragement and for the great efforts that you have made to see that the Land and Natural Resources Division is able to do the job with which it has been charged.

Not to- be outdone by the other litigating sections, we have two awards.

The first is symbolic of another effort of yours, one which I think very few people are aware of outside of the community that deals with it, and that is your contributions to Indian law. This is an instrument which, as you can see, is a tomahawk. The symbolism, I suspect, is manifold. But it is not only a genuine Indian tomahawk, it is constructed out of pipestone from the mountains of Minnesota, and it is, at the top, a peace pipe. And I think, sir, this is symbolic of your efforts and your commitment to Indian law reform and, as well, to your commitment to the Executive Order on property rights. We would like to make that presentation to you.

ATTORNEY GENERAL MEESE: Thank you very much.

[Applause]

MR. MARZULLA: And as I said, we have a second presentation. This is a plaque. It is a very special plaque. It is made of redwood from the forests of Northern

California. And as you know, Ed, the Sequoia redwood trees are among the oldest living things on the face of the earth.

Through the centuries, indeed in many instances for more than

2,000 years, they have endured storms, they have endured earthquakes, they have endured upheavals and they have endured the swirl of human events which has changed the face of the earth and has otherwise dramatically altered the environment. And yet they remain among the ~allest, among the proudest, among the strongest of living things.

This plaque reads, "To Edwin Meese III, Attorney

General of the United States. In recognition of his commit­ ment to the rule of law and his superior service to his client, President Ronald Wilson Reagan, from his friends and employees in the Land and Natural Resources Division."

We would like to make that presentation to you as well, sir.

ATTORNEY GENERAL MEESE: Thank you very much.

[Applause]

MR. MARZULLA: And finally, Ed, I would like to personally thank you for the opportunity to serve with you with the fine tea. that you have put together, and to have the most challenging and exciting job that I aM likely to have. Now, I should like to introduce Steve Markman,

Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy.

[Applause]

MR. MARKMAN: Thank you, Roger.

A great British commentator once observed that one of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea. What seems to have pained his critics!most of all is that Ed Meese, to an unprecedented degree, has brought new ideas to the Justice Department, more precisely he has brought ideas, mostly very good ideas, to this Department.

The notion of interpretivism of jurisprudence faithful to the Constitution is no more a new idea than the notion of supply side or incentive economics is a new idea.

Yet, in both instances, men of ideas, Ed Meese and Ronald

Reagan, have repackaged and revived and renewed very old ideas, yet also very good ones, that· had increasingly been forgotten and neglected.

Ultimately, I believe, that will be Ed Meese's greatest legacy to the nation as Attorney General, a legacy of ideas. Of course, there is the distinguished legacy"of legislation and investigations and prosecutions and settle­ ments and foreign agreements. But Ed Meese, in my mind, is unique in the extraordinary attention to ideas that he has brought to the Department over the past three and a half years.

I can recall the Attorney General, as Charles did, hosting a lO-hour conference on federalism and participating in the debates over the scope of the commerce clause and the evolution of the 10th Amendment. I can recall the Attorney

General of the United States hosting another day-long conference on economic liberties in the Constitution and discoursing upon the contracts clause and substantive due process and what reasonable compensation requires under the

5th Amendment.

And I can recall the Attorney General of the United

States hosting still another conference on criminal justice reform, listening and learning about and sharing his own expertise on pretrial procedure and sentencing and theories of the criminal justice system.

And I can recall the Attorney General, even though it may not have been within the narrowest job description of his pOSition, and even thougb there are times when life would have been easier not to have done 56, speaking on competing approaches to constitutional interpretation, the relationship between the authority of the Supreme Court and the authority of the Constitution. The virtues of Separation of Powers

Doctrine, the meaning of the 9th Amendment, and the lost notion of the pursuit of truth in the courtroom.

What each of these themes had in common is that to

Ed Meese, the Constitution matters. Without more, the use of , his office, the use of his forum as Attorney General to address these issues might well have become his most important legacy. The articulation of his ideas has generated sym­ posiums at our nation's law schools. They've generated discussion and analysis in the popular and in the opinion journals. They've generated responses from more than one member of the United States Supreme Court. They've generated lectures and debates at bar conventions, judicial conferences, and in the classrooms. And they have generated enormous commentary in the scholarly journals of the land.

At last count, there were more than 50 articles in the Law Reviews responding to the ideas of the Attorney

General.

At. a confex:'ence that I attended in May in Mexico

City on comparative legal systems, I listened in on one heated, very animated international panel, disagreeing vehemently about the views of El Ministro de Justicia de los

Estados Unidos. Michael Dukakis couldn't have done better than that.

[Laughter]

Without more, as I say, this would have an outstand­ ing legacy. Of course, there has been more, much more. The ideas of the Attorney General, the new ideas and the new-old ideas have been given form in a variety of ways. They have taken the form of executive orders on federalism and constitu­ tional takings; they have taken form in Supreme Court decisions; they have taken form in such laws as the Omnibus

Crime Control Act and the Anti-Drug Abuse Act; they have taken form in litigat'ion poliC"ies of attorneys throughout the

United States; and they have taken form in the people who have been privileged to work for varying periods of time in the Meese Justice Department. And, of course, these ideas have been inst·itutionalized in the judicial appointments of this Administration.

Attorney General Meese has been responsible for the appointment to. the Federal bench, with some assistance from the President, of more members of the Federal judiciary than any other Attorney General in the history of the United States.

These men and women have not come from a single mold. They have come from different backgrounds, with different political views and values.. But what ultimately all have in common is a deep understanding of the rule of law and understanding of the role of the courts within our constitutional architecture, and a belief in 'the ultimate ability of we, the people, to structure our own government and society.

This renewal of the judicial branch is one of the greatest and most permanent of all of the outstanding legacies of Ed Meese. And I suspect that that legacy will come to be appreciated by the people of the United States even more 10, 15 and 20 years from now.

It has been a personal honor for me to have worked the past three years for a great and honorable Attorney

General. I thank him for that opportunity.

On behalf of the outstanding professionals .in the

Office of Legal Policy, I would like to present him with something that was at issue in the greatest of all of the

Supreme Court decisions, something that he has presented to more individuals than any of his 74 predecessors as Attorney General, the Official Judicial Commission of the United

States.

[Applause]

I would now like to introduce the Assistant

Attorney General for the Tax Division, William Rip Rose.

[Applause]

MR. ROSE: Mr. Attorney General, at this time I would like to present you with a plaque from the Tax Division in recognition of your service.

I would like to read the inscription, if I may.

ttEdwin Meese III, Attorney General, patriot, loyal to country and President, scholar, leading architect of the

Reagan Revolution, lawyer, upheld the Constitution through law enforcement."

These words are merely a summary of your contribu­ tions to this Administration and in no way capture the sacrifices you have made on its behalf.

It is a privilege granted to few men to become wholly identified with a worthy cause, as you have become identified with the Reagan agenda.

You have served as a leading advocate within the

Administration of many of its most important policies, ranging from the war against drugs to renewed emphasis on

judicial restraint in interpreting the Federal law and the

Constitution.

In addition t.O your impact on policy., you have also acted as an agent of intellectual change, altering the formulation and direction of the debate on many issues for decades to come.

During your watch as Attorney General, the Depart­ ment of Justice has overcome many challenges. The successes are many. In particular, the Tax Division has enjoyed some notable achievements under your leadership.

In criminal tax cases, our conviction rate is 90.5 percent, and the incarceration rate has increased from an average of 26 months to an average of 46 months. Furthermore, total fines imposed on criminal tax cases have jumped from approximately $5 million in 1980 to $30.3 million in 1987.

In the civil tax context, the Tax Division has been able, through injunctive actions against abusive tax shelters, to avoid between $8 and $15 billion of lost tax revenues.

Moreover, the Tax Division has protected the fisc from approx~ately $3 billion in claims ..

Furthermore, the Tax Division has collected over 57 million from delinquent taxpayers in 1987.

Mr. Attorney General, the members of the Tax

Division understand and appreciate your contribution and sacrifices, as well as those of us who have worked with you.

Consequently, we would like to acknowledge this extraordinary effort with this plaque.

Thank you.

ATTORNEY GENERAL MEESE: Thank you very much.

[Applause]

MR. ROSE: Now I would like to introduce Harry

Flickinger, Assistant Attorney General, Justice Management

Division.

[Applause]

MR. FLICKINGER: Thank you, Rip.

The person who holds the position of Attorney

General typically is viewed as the nation's top law enforce­ ment officer or the nation's top lawyer, and certainly he is those things.

However, the Attorney General is also a manager, and a manager of a very large and complex department.

On behalf of the Justice Management Division, Mr.

Attorney General, I would like to express our thanks and our appreciation for your leadership and your tremendous support in the management and the management improvement, of the

Department of Justice.

In the interest of time, I'll cite just your establishment of the Department Resources Board and your creation of the Justice Command Center as some of the tangible evidence of your tremendous impact on the management structure and effectiveness of this Department.

The Department Resources Board has proven to be an extremely effective mechanism for managing and controlling the complex and widespread resources of this Department.

And, of course, the Justice Command Center proved to be invaluable in the resolution of the Atlanta and Oakdale episodes.

So, on behalf of the Justice Management Division, I would like to thank you. I do have a presentation.

The inscription is simple and sincere: "With appreciation from your friends and colleagues in the Justice

Kanaqeaent Division. It

Thank you.

ATTORNEY GENERAL MEESE: Thank you very much.

[Applause] MR. FLICKINGER: I'd like to introduce Assistant

Attorney General Richard Abell, Office of Justice Programs.

[Applause.]

MR. ABELL: Thank you, Harry.

General Meese, from one military man to another, on this, your last week of active duty at the Department of

Justice, I must address you as my commanding I general. As in the words of another famous American general, General George s. Patton, quote -- and I have learned in the last several years one always attributes a quote:

"It is the spirit of the men who follow and of the man who leads that gains victory."

On behalf of the Office of Justice Programs and all of its five components -- the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of

Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency

Prevention, and the Office for Victims of Crime -- I can personally attest to the strong and supportive leadership that we have received from General Meese.

At OJP we have had many victories. The needs of law enforcement officials are now being more fully addressed through research, statistical findings, technical assistance and grants for state and local programs. The needs of missing and abused children are being addressed. Innocent victims are now receiving,fair treatment.

While we are proud of our victories under General

Meese's leadership, OJP is equally as proud of the progress being made in our battles that are still under way, especially

I in the war against drugs. Never before has any Attorney

General given the support to state and local law enforcement and anti-drug activities as you, General Meese. That is a legacy for which you will be always remembered.

In the words of the great Hispano-Roman philosopher,

Lucius Seneca, "Friendship always benefits. II Let's repeat it. It's short and it's simple. "Friendship always bene­ fits."

At OJP we have always had a friend in Ed Meese.

State and local criminal justice practitioners have always had a friend in Ed Meese. Because of the strong leadership and friendship we have received from General Meese, we now have the ball rolling in the right direction. State and local officials across this nation are now seeing the results of his work, and that federalism benefits everyone.

To once again quote Seneca, "Veritatem dies aperit" Time discovers ,truth.

ILaughter/applause~l

MR. ABELL: I now have a small, insignificant and

somebody put in here harmless -- gift for General Meese.

General Meese, this is symbolic of how vehemently you have worked to remove the predators from the streets and to restore law and order to our nation. And, fncidentally, as a

Vietnam veteran, this is one trooper who always made a point to never trag his senior officer.

[Laughter/applause.]

MR. ABELL: Maybe I should read the inscription. I think we have five seconds.

[Laughter.]

MR. ABELL: Note that the person who pulled the pin. To General Meese, 1985-1988. For your outstanding leadership in the defense of the Department of Justice, from your comrades at the Office of Justice Programs.

[Applause.]

MR. ABELL: With those explosive comments, it is now my pleasure to introduce the director of the Office of

Public Affairs, Patrick Korten.

[Applause.] MR. KORTEN: I have often been known as a bomb- thrower myself, but I don't think I could top a hand grenade.

Since coming to Washington nearly 17 years ago, I have had the opportunity to work for, or with,.a lot of public officials in this town, both in Congress and in the executive branch. As a journalist covering government for six years, I got to know a good many more. Many such officials, as we all ! know, can charitably be described as more than a little bit self-centered, and all too often inconsiderate. For many, ambition becomes an all-consuming passion, and even those who come to washington full of desire to fight for principle too often end up being consumed by a pervasive atmosphere of expediency that tends to permeate life in washington.

Of all of the political leaders that I have known,

Attorney General Meese stands out as a preeminent example of one who never succumbed to the dark side of Washington. I first met him seven years ago and have gotten to know him well during the last three. He is a rarity: a man who never loses his temper; an optimist who never lets adversity get him down; a person with an uncanny ability to roll with the punches and to cope with the pressures that life as a Cabinet secretary can bring. I wish I had a nickel for every reporter who has expressed wonderment to me about his genial nature and unfailing good humor. No matter how they may feel about him politically, they appreciate and respect his friendly and affable way of handling the very .toughest questions they have to offer.

For him, ambition has never been the driving force.

He didn't come to Washington to get a job. He came to ! Washington to do a job. And no one could have been more dedicated or more hard-working in the service of President

Reagan than Ed Meese has been.

But he has been much more than simply a hard­ working Cabinet official. He has never lost sight of the agenda the President brought to Washington. As Counselor, as

Domestic Policy Council Chairman, as Drug Policy Board chief, and, of course, as Attorney General, he has arguably done more to help President Reagan keep his promises to the

American people than anyone else save for the President himself. He has truly been the keeper of the flame, on subjects ranging from fundamental constitutional principles to federalism as a practical, and not just a theoretic~l, matter.

For the tens of thousands of Justice Department people who live and work beyond the Capital Beltway, this

Attorney General leaves behind a reputation as one who really cares about them and the day-to-day problems they face. I've had the chance to tag along with Attorney General Meese on trips allover the world, and a couple of incidents stand out in my memory.

There are a lot of Washington officials who you can reliably expect to find when they've traveled someplace like

Geneva or London. If you want to find Ed Meese when hets on the road, you look in places like the northern regions of

Thailand, where a few years ago we sat and I watched as he

laid a plaque in honor of the wife of a DEA agent who had

been brutally murdered by some drug traffickers. And he sat

and he talked with the agents afterward privately. The rest of us got out of the way.

Earlier this year, it was Ed Meese sitting out in

the middle of the Chaparej, in a hot, steamy jungle in the middle of Bolivia, sitting on a wooden bench eating field

rations with Border Patrol and DEA agents, who I can tell you

for certain appreciated the way that he demonstrated how much

he cared for the problems they face and the threats to their

lives they feel every day. In hundreds of visits to stateside offices of the

FBI or the INS or the Bureau of Prisons or u.s. Attorney's

Offices, you would always find him saving time to say thanks and to offer a word of praise to the receptionist or the beat cop who happened to pull security duty that day.

You know, not infrequently people will say to me:

11 Boy , that's a tough job you've got, Ed Meese's. spokesman." Well, I'll tell you the truth. It's been a dream assignment.

For one thing, it's never been dull. And for another thing,

I've never worked for a man who had a more natural feel for doing an interview or a news conference or a speech. But most of all, I have had the privilege of working for a man who is warm and kind and decent, whose generosity and friendship are legendary among those who have the happy pleasure of knowing him.

I will always be grateful, Mr. Meese, for the privilege and honor of having helped you in some small way, on my part, to serve the President of the country.

[Applause.]

MR. KORTEN: Howl let me turn it over to Joseph

Morris of the Office of Liaison Services.

[Applause.] MR. MORRIS: Thank you, Pat, very much.

Madam Best Friend to the Attorney General of the

United States, Dana, and ladies and gentlemen, as I look at the people assembled on this stage, and as I look at the people sitting in the room before me, people who currently serve in the Department of Justice and people who have served

in this Department of Justice under this Attprney General, I

remark to myself on the quality of the people, the kinds of

people that this man has gathered to himself as his friends

and as his colleagues. And if the judge of a man is the

company he keeps, then this is a great man, indeed.

I am privileged here to be called upon on behalf of

the Office of Liaison Services to bid farewell to Ed Meese.

The respects that OLS pays today to him are really more than

collegial. They are properly filial. For alone, I think,

among the organizations -- all of them distinguished -- that

comprise the United States Department of Justice, the Office

of Liaison Services has the unique distinction of claiming

Edwin Meese as its father.

My office has the mission of winning for thi§

department the support and the coop'eration of the states I the

counties, the cities of our country, our nation's prosecutors sheriffs, police chiefs and bar, and their counterparts in foreign lands. It was Edwin Meese who conceived of this mission, who saw its importance and its utility to the department as an institution, and who called our office into being.

We have had, I think, some success in our work.

1 The credit for that success in the conception and in the execution belongs entirely to him. You don't have to take my word for it. Many leaders of the nation's legal and law enforcement communities have called and written to me in recent weeks to tell me what they thought of the stewardship of Edwin Meese, and let me quote just a few of them to you this morning.

Newman Flanagan, a Democrat from Boston, the elected District Attorney of Suffolk County, Massachusetts

Michael Dukakis's D.A. said of Edwin Meese: ttHe's been an extremely important person for law enforcement throughout this country. He has been a giant. He has taken law enforcement from a splinter group of people with their own egos and their own turf, and built it into a network of people willing to cooperate and coordinate their efforts. Ed

Meese has been of great value to law enforcement and a great detriment to the criminal element."

Hubert Williams, the former chief of police of

Newark, New Jersey, and now the president of the Police

Foundation, said: "Ed Meese has shown a greater sensitivity to law enforcement than any Attorney General I've known, and a special sensitivity to the police."

Richard M. Daley, Democrat of Chic~go, the elected state's attorney of Cook County, Illinois, and the son of you-know-who, said: "Ed Meese has shown himself to be law enforcement's best friend."

Richard Arcara, a Republican from Buffalo, New

York, then the elected District Attorney of Erie County, New

York, and the president of the National District Attorneys

Association and the president of the New York State District

Attorneys Association, and now a United States District Judge in New York, formerly a United Stat~s Attorney under President

Ford and the entirety of President Carter's administration, said: "I have served under three Attorneys General, and I have known many more. In my opinion, Edwin Meese is the greatest Attorney General of my lifetime."

I will not consume the balance of the morning with these tributes, nor with the 53 plaques and wall hangings that OLS is holding in reserve. The law enforcement community plans its own gala in tribute to Ed Meese later this fall, and there will be a full opportunity at that time for its leaders to tell this man and his family what a difference they have made to law enforcement and to the American people.

But I do want to tell him, in front of the Justice

Department family here assembled, that for ~ll of us in OLS, those of us who are incumbents and those of us who are alumni of your Office of Liaison Services, that the reality of service in your Department of Justice has been -- as someone publicly described it, with surprising accuracy -- a wonder­ land. It has been for us a wonderland of accomplishment, of cohesion. and adhesion, a worl~ in which up was up.

[Laughter/applause.]

MR. MORRIS: Down was down. In was in and out was out.

[Applause.]

MR. MORRIS: Hot was hot. Cold was cold. Happy was happy. Sad was sad. Sunshine was sunshine. And sunburns were rare.

Thank you, Edwin Meese .. And God bless you.

[Applause.] MR. MORRIS: God bless you.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to present to you a good friend, gentleman jurist, William S.

Sessions, who, at the recruitment of Ed Meese,. is the

Director of the FBI. Ladies and gentlemen, here come the judge.

[Applause.]

JUDGE SESSIONS: It's a hard act to follow.

[Laughter.]

JUDGE SESSIONS: General, Mrs. Meese, I find it hard to come here and bid you farewell, but I want to think back about several occasions that exemplified and charac­ terized my relationship and the Bureau's relationship with you that were probably as meaningful as they could be to a

Director of the great institution, the Federal Bureau of

Investigation.

I had no sooner crossed the door than the incident

Oakdale came upon us. Those were dark and bleak hours where the cry for leadership had to be answered and was answered admirably, immediately, by the unqualified leadership of yourself. Those hours were characterized by despair over the capture of the hostages, by uncertainty as to precisely how we could preserve the lives and preserve the institution, as to how we could take and cope with it. You called upon the

FBI and, for the first time in my nine months with the

Bureau, I was called upon to put my agents at risk directly by an order and a command.

Thirty-six hours later, that event was followed by

Atlanta. Again, a crisis circumstance where; the leadership that you gave to it and the stableness and the dedication that you gave to it provided the leadership for all of the agencies to follow in the most difficult of times and the most tragic of circumstances. And out of your leadership came a resolution which, in everybody's estimate, was an unqualified success. The lives were saved, the prisons were restored, and justice was done.

The second one was a much quieter circumstance but was every bit as meaningful to me. I had no concept when I became Attorney General -- pardon me.

[Laughter. ]

JUDGE SESSIONS: Did I say that?

I had no concept when I became the Director of the

FBI about the role of the FBI and the Attorney General in the

European Community. But early on, I had the opportunity to go and share with you the obligation of the bilateral discussions, at the Trevi Conference in Copenhagen. And there

I discovered for the first time the meaning of true inter­ national cooperation in law enforcement. Because it was out of those discussions that related around terrorism, organized crime, and drug trafficking that we began to see the co­ hesiveness that was absolutely essential to ~he preservation of law and order in this country. And your leadership there provided in a dynamic fashion an understanding on my part about the true role of the FBI and the Department of Justice as it relates to those particular areas.

Finally and thirdly, my relationship with you personally has been all I could have asked for. You have never failed the Bureau in responding to the needs that we had. When we brought them to you, you were there and available. Your constant attention to them, to me, was a source of strength and a source of strong feeling about the relationship between the FBI and the Attorney General of the

United States.

For all of those things, I thank you. Somewhere hidden in this hall is a small token. I have now found it.

Thank you. [Laughter.]

JUDGE SESSIONS: This does not go along with the grenade, you understand. But I hope it will serve as a constant reminder of the friendship and the affection that your friends in the FBI feel for you, General, and I do thank you, sir.

[Applause.]

JUDGE SESSIONS: I am now privileged to introduce a man who shared some of those dark hours, and who, by his direction of the Bureau of Prisons, provided the kind of

leadership that was compatible with that given by General

Meese: Mike Quinlan, the Director of the Bureau of Prisons.

[Applause.]

MR. QUINLAN: Thank you very much, Judge Sessions.

General Meese, we have been very fortunate in the

Bureau of Prisons to have benefited from your leadership during the last three years. We have been particularly aided by your understanding and insight into the role that correc­

tions plays as a vital part of the criminal justice system.

We have also, as Judge Sessions has alluded, greatly benefited

from the leadership that you provided to us and to everyone

in law enforcement during the Atlanta and Oakdale crises. As many of you know, the Attorney General was present every day during the crisis. He led the management team in an 11:00 o'clock meeting every day, even Thanksgiving

Day. He also found time to call the families .of the hostages, which I think was a tremendously meaningful call for the

families to receive, and which also was done on Thanksgiving

Day at great personal sacrifice to the Attorpey General and

his family. He canceled a trip to Europe. He assisted and

attended with me to visit the institutions immediately at the

closing of those disturbances, which was again a tremendous

indication of his leadership and support to the Bureau of

Prisons and the other federal agencies that were on site at

those facilities.

The Attorney General has also greatly helped the

Bureau of Prisons during a time of great overcrowding. The

Bureau of Prisons has undertaken the largest expansion

program in its history under Attorney General Meese. During

the time that he has been leading the department in all the

other endeavors that he has been undertaking, he has also

found the time -- and I think this is a tremendous indication of his great leadership skills -- he has also found the time to attend the funeral of a correctional officer who was murdered at Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, to present awards to some staff of the Bureau of Prisons at our central head­ quarters, to attend at my request a Northeast Directors of

Corrections Conference, to present the keynote address to the

American Correctional Association in Phoenix, Arizona, to attend our National Wardens Conference and present the top awards that the Bureau presents each year td its employees, to attend and participate in a conference on issues in corrections.

He has intervened on my behalf with the Department of Defense during the Atlanta-Oakdale crisis, with the Office of Personnel Management when a very sensitive personnel issue came up, with the Office of Management and Budget and the

Congress on our budgetary crises. And all of those things

have demonstrated to me and to everyone in the Bureau of

Prisons his great leadership abilities, and for all of that,

General, we are very grateful and will be forever grateful

for that support and for that inspiration which you have given to me and to all of the other staff of the Bureau of

Prisons.

I would like to present you, sir, with a little memento from the 13,000 employees of the Bureau of Prisons who greatly respect you, a small plaque which reads, sir:

"With thanks for your outstanding leadership and support of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, 1985 to 1988." And it has a map of the United States with all of the federal correctional

facilities on it.

[Applause. ]

MR. QUINLAN: At this time, I would like to

introduce the Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturaliza­

tion Service, Al Nelson.

[Applause.]

MR. NELSON: Ed, Ursula, Dana, there has been a lot

of discussions, and it has been amply demonstrated with all

these plaques about the crowded condition of the Meese

household walls. I can tell you, having been in their home a

number of times, that's already the case.

As I've looked in the past at a number of the plaques and photos, one has always caught my attention, and

the inscription reads much as follows: "Ed, I know Sacramento

can get along without me. I'm not so sure it can get along

without you. H And that's a photograph of then-Governor

Reagan as he was leaving Sacramento.

I think those sentiments are really what we could say here with you leaving the Department of Justice.

There's been a lot of comments, and I think it is important to recognize that we not only honor Ed Meese as

Attorney General of the United States, but as .the prime adviser to our President, a man who's a great President and who will go down in history as such. And when you look at who, and if you pick one person that was closest to the

President, that advised him and guided him through all these years, it's Attorney General Ed Meese.

If you go back to his days in Sacramento as legal affairs adviser to the Governor, later chief of staff, advising the candidate during the late '70s and during the election, serving as counselor to the President in the early

'80s, and the last three years as Attorney General, I think what we can see and reflect and appreciate in the job that

Ronald Reagan has done should amply be passed on also to Ed

Meese. Not only in law enforcement, but in domestic policy issues, and well beyond that in his role.

But let's talk a little bit about law enforcement.

Most of the speakers have. When you look at law enforcement in the United States today compared with what it was 10, 15,

20 years ago, when law enforcement officers were called "pigs" and excoriated, and the attitude within law enforcement

as well as without was not good, and what you see today, where

it's a proud profession and people want to get involved and want to support it, the budget, the laws that nave been

passed not only in the Federal Government but throughout are

due so much to Ed Meese. He has brought under his leadership

a safer and more just America, and he has set the foundation

to continue that.

Let me turn to the Immigration Service on behalf of

the 15,000 employees of our service, the second largest unit

within Justice. Again, his support as Attorney General and

before that for the growth of this service, for the role it

played, budget, staffing, whatever, very significant and very

important. Under Ed's tenure as Attorney General, we passed

probably the most significant immigration reform legislation

in this century. Every President since Harry Truman tried

and failed to pass significant immigration reform. That was

accomplished by President Reagan during his second term and

by Ed Meese as Attorney General.

We were honored in this very hall just a week ago

to receive an award from the Attorney General for the

Immigration Service for the job we've done in implementing the immigration bill and for getting it passed. But in him handing out that award, really he was receiving it too. And

I think we want to, on behalf of all of us, thank you for your support, for your accomplishment, and the, fact that you will continue to speak out. And Godspeed in those efforts.

I'd like to also carryon a theme that several others made, and that's visits to the field.'! I think all of us must realize and never forget that most of the Department of Justice is outside the Beltway, functions there and does the job throughout this country and the world. And when Ed

Meese goes out, as Pat Korten and others talked about, that he meets with the people, he spends the time, he knows them by their name, he talks the issues with them.

I have worked for a lot of people in and out of government. I know of no leader who has gone out like he has in meeting the troops. When you talk about leadership and good management, nothing equals that, and we need to recognize that.

Before I make several presentations, I'd like to close with another quote, another plaque that Ed has, a number of us who served in the Reagan Administration in

California, which reads as follows: "All we promised to do, we did, or tried our utmost to do. I shall be forever grateful to you and proud of all we accomplished together.

My heartfelt than.ks."

That was signed in December 1974 by Ronald Reagan, and I'm sure today Ronald Reagan would express those same sentiments. And certainly all of us can, too.

So, Ed, at this point I'd like to ~ake two presenta­ tions. The first is a plaque, and I won't read the inscrip­ tion for time, but it represents the various badges of the units of the Immigration Service.

[Applause.]

MR. NELSON: The second is a symbol we're all proud

of, and certainly no man can better receive this in honor.

I'll read the inscription here: "Edwin Meese III, Attorney

General of the United States, February 1985 to August 1988,

protector of liberty and justice, leader of America's

heritage of immigration.

[Applause.]

MR. NELSON: I'd like now to present Stan Morris,

Director of the U.S. Marshals Service, the oldest law

enforcement agency, and one that's done very proud.

{Applause.] MR. MORRIS: Thank you, AI.

Mr. Attorney General, ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to depart a little bit from tradition and not discuss the last three-and-a-half years or the last seyen-and-a-half years, but touch briefly on a somewhat more distant past and then on our future.

We all know in the halls here who Edmund Randolph was. He was, of course, the first Attorney General. Today, we celebrate the accomplishments and the departure of the

75th Attorney General. But we don't know about Robert

Forsythe and Louis Morris and Clement Biddle and Nathanial

Ramsey and Henry Dearborn and others. They were nominated by the same President, George Washington, on the same day. And they were nominated to the United States Marshals in 1789.

For 80 years, justice in the executive branch was largely that Attorney General, those Attorneys General and those marshals. There was no Solicitor General. There was no DEA. There was no Department of Justice. There wasn't even an FBI. Those were really the good 01' days.

[Laughter.]

MR. MORRIS: We have genuine historic bonds, the

Marshals and the Attorney General do. But this is the 75th Attorney General, and it was under his leadership and his caring that, for the first time in 199 years, the President of the United States met and talked with all of his marshals assembled -- an historic occasion created by t.his Attorney

General.

And the first of my two presentations I would like

I to make right now. Something to remind you bf those first marshals.

[Applause.]

MR. MORRIS: But as I said at the outset, I would like to talk a little bit about the future. You've heard up here and most, I think, acutely from the Bureaus of the

Department of Justice -- how this gentleman cares about the people of the Department of Justice. He has been, like he has with all the other Bureaus, in our district offices. He is concerned about the salaries and the equipment. He is concerned about the quality of life -- not inside the Beltway but out where it counts, where the real battle against crime exists.

He cares about the people. He has attended our award ceremonies religiously. He has attended our conferences with unfailing wit and despite the other demands on his schedule. He has always been there when we have asked for help in the battles on the budget, battles on grades and the like.

It is not, I think, accidental that _perhaps one of his last official acts won't be today or tomorrow, but

Tuesday, where Jack Lawn -- who, unfortunately, couldn't be here today -- and I and the Attorney General: will open our new building, a building that clearly represents the 21st century of law enforcement. He will be with Jack and I as we raise the flag on a facility that looks forward to the future.

I think that it is a very proud occasion, and because of that we have a small presentation, I think, that will have him remember.

[Applause.]

MR. MORRIS: It is now my privilege to introduce the Director of the Executive Office of u.S. Attorneys, the honorable Larry McWhorter.

[Applause.]

MR. McWHORTER: The Attorney General set, as the

Department of Justice top priority, headquarters support of the Offices of U.S. Attorneys. Therefore, I think it is particularly appropriate today that, joining me in represent­ ing the interest of the 93 u.s. attorneys is one of them, the u.s. Attorney, from the Western District of Missouri, the chairman of the Attorney General's Advisory Committee of u.s.

Attorneys, Bob Ulrich.

[Applause.]

MR. ULRICH: General, Ursula, Dana, friends and colleagues, I think it's appropriate that I came from the crowd to the podium to make some comments because I represent with great pleasure and pride, the United States Attorneys,

the 93 of them who cross this great nation in the 94 dis­ tricts, or outside the Beltway. So I think my corning to the podium is symbolic of that and appropriate.

Up?n the Attorney General's ascendance to his position in 1985, he determined that the United States

Attorneys would be incorporated into the policy-making process of the Department of Justice. He wanted to take advantage of the experiences and the abilities of the United

States Attorneys, and he gave to them great importance.

For example, at the United States Attorneys conferences that are held approximately each year, I recall

in particular one in Tucson, Arizona, in 1987, when the

Attorney General had been present for the day of the two-and­ a-half day conference, and was required to come to Washington to meet with the National Security Council, of which he is a member. He flew to Washington during the night, met the next

morning with the council l and then flew back t.O Tucson for the remainder of the rest of the day and the half-day to follow after that. That's representative of the importance he has given to listening to the United States Attorneys.

He routinely sought their advice. He met with the

Advisory Committee of the United States Attorneys, which he appoints, routinely whenever they met in Washington, D.C. He met each and every time we met, sought to know the issues that we were confronting and the problems that we face in the field.

He has fostered and nourished improved cooperative relationships with the United States Attorneys and the

Department of Justice so necessary to provide the justice that the American people deserve.

For example, I mentioned the U.S. Attorneys conferences. He required that all members of the administra­ tion w~thin the Department of Justice who fill significant roles -- the Assistant Attorneys General, the Director of the

FBI, the Administrator of INS, and the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Prisons and so on -- be present at those conferences to engage in a dialogue with the

United States Attorneys about issues that they were confront­ ing so that a better product of justice could be served to the American people.

He appointed United States Attorneys to the many committees that meet in Washington, D.C., to' incorporate their ! experience, as I have said. He wanted their knowledge. For example, as a result of his action, I sit on the Department of Justice Resource Board, the very significant board that helps determine on his behalf the budget of the United States

Department of Justice.

In addition to all of this, he emphasized training because he wanted the attorneys who represent the United

States, the Assistant United States Attorneys and the attorneys within the Department of Justice who routinely represent the United States in the courts of this great land to .have the best training possible to provide the best representation to the United States and, therefore, the

American people, that they could possibly provide.

He emphasized local, state and federal law enforce­ ment cooperation, and we've heard a little about that during this ceremony. But as one who is from the field, one of the commanders, so to speak, who leads the troops with the 93

United States Attorneys on a day-to-day basis, addressing and enforcing the laws of the United States with our colleagues in the investigative and administrative agency of the United

States, he emphasized that we get out and we meet the local and state law enforcement authorities, and t~at we build the cooperation. He didn't wait for it to happen. He directed that we do it, and as a result of that, I am very pleased to tell you and the American people that state, local and federal law enforcement cooperation today is better than it ever has been, I believe, in probably the history of this great nation of ours.

He further, to 'institutionalize' this process, obtained LECC, or victim, witness coordinators, a position now in every United States Attorney's Office to institutiona­ lize this desire, this continued cooperation and coordination with state, local and federal authorities. He led the effort to obtain additional and essential statutes designed to increase penalties for serious federal criminal offenders, and to take from offenders the fruits of their illegal activity. In addition to addressing the law enforcement side, he emphasized that it's our responsibility as United States

Attorneys in the field to collect money owed the people of this great land. And I venture to say that in. his tenure we have probably collected more money owed the taxpayers than during any other administration of an Attorney General, and he is to be lauded for that.

We, the United States Attorneys, when we want to express ourselves collectively, pass resolutions. And we have a resolution we want to present to Ed Meese because we want to personally express to him our feeling for him.

Larry, if you would bring that forward, please, I will read only the last paragraph because the recitals that you see express many of the things that I have already stated.

The last paragraph states as follows: "Now, therefore, be it resolved: The United States Attorneys, by and through the Attorney General's Advisory Committee of

United States Attorneys, do hereby acknowledge the significant accomplishments of the United States Department of Justice and, indeed, all of law enforcement during the tenure of

Edwin Meese III, Attorney General of the United States, resulting in significant benefit to his fellow citizens, do hereby express their appreciation and affection for him, and extend to him and to his family warm and personal wishes for a healthy and prosperous future. And they do direct that this resolution be recorded as a permanent record in the official minutes of the committee and the archives of the

Department of Justice, and they further direct that a copy of this resolution be provided to him. In witness hereof, I do hereby set my hand this 4th day of August 1988."

General.

[Applause.]

MR. ULRICH: I now introduce William Bradford

Reynolds, Counselor to the Attorney General and Assistant

Attorney General, Civil Rights.Division, who really needs no introduction.

[Applause.]

MR. REYNOLDS: Mr. Attorney General, Ursula, Dana, friends, colleagues, I do not dare to try to stand here at this stage and upstage my colleagues. I know a lot better than that.

What they have had to say about the Attorney

General, our fully engaged and fully involved leader, marks,

I think, the true measure of this truly extraordinary man. There is no mean-spiritedness in this man. There is no rancor, no vindictiveness -- although, heaven knows, there certainly is reason out there for there to be some. There is an abiding commitment to law enforcement, to the criminal justice system, and to law and order. There is a fierce devotion to principle, to fairness, to equal opportunity.

There is, as you've heard, an appreciation f;or and an understanding of our constitutional system, on behalf of which this Attorney General has done more than any other in modern time. And there is a warmth, a caring about people, and a generosity that stands out above all else.

Ed, you've heard this morning expressions of our appreciation of your leadership, our thanks for your friend­ ship, our respect for your constant display of courage, your willingness to stand tall for your convictions in the face of every conceivable kind of attack, and our admiration for all that you have accomplished.

I do want to quickly add my thanks on behalf of the

Civil Rights Division, and also on behalf of your personal staff for the honor ~nd the privilege of working with ·you during these exciting times. It's been fun, it's been challenging, and it's been most rewarding to all of us. As one additional token of our abundant gratitude

for all you have done, and the always gracious way in which you have done it, let me ask you once again to step up here and receive one more gift.

I will read the inscription: "Edwin Meese III, your unwavering courage, integrity, dedication to principle,

and commitment to the highest standards of jbstice and human decency have been an inspiration to us all. From your colleagues at the Department of Justice, February 1985 to

August 1988. n Thank you.

[Applause.]

MR. REYNOLDS: And now the moment we've been waiting for. It is a privilege and an honor for me to give to you a dear friend and just the best Attorney General that I

think we've seen in 75 years: Edwin Meese III.

[Applause.]

ATTORNEY GENERAL MEESE: Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. I'm very grateful for that warm sign of your affection, and I am particularly grateful for all of the tributes that have been given this morning. I might say I'm really overwhelmed by all of them, but very appreciative. I also recognize the fact that a look at your watch

will tell you that we're now intruding on your lunch hour.

And so I am appropriately recognizing my responsibilities to

keep my remarks relatively short. But I am pl~ased to have

the opportunity to gather with you, my friends and colleagues

in the Department of Justice, particularly in this room

where, on many occasions, we have gotten together to present

awards, to recognize achievement, and to talk about important

matters.

It's also the room that I remember very well

because it was in front of this statue here that I received

the Report of the Commission on Pornography. I think many of

you will remember that that was a shot that found its way

into the front pages of most of the newspapers in the

country. You may also remember that I explained later on

that before Gramm-Rudman that statue had been fully clad.

[Laughter.]

ATTORNEY GENERAL MEESE: It's hard to believe that

three-and-a-half years have passed since I stood here at this

podium and for the first time addressed you as the Attorney

General. Today I stand before you; as I admitted a minute

ago, somewhat overwhelmed by all that's been said here, but very grateful for the opportunity to have worked with you and very appreciative of all of the efforts that the people in this room and your colleagues throughout the country in the

Department of Justice, in the law enforcement community and in the administration have contributed to me, and particularly within this family contributed to the Department of Justice over these three-and-a-half years.

At our first meeting in March of 1985, I tried to sketch out in very general terms what my objectives would be, and I said that my priorities for the Department of Justice would be: First, the protection of the law-abiding from the lawless, with due and careful deference to the constitutional rights of all citizens; secondly, the safeguarding of

individual privacy from improper governmental intrusion; third, the vigilant and energetic defense of the civil rights of all Americans; and, fourth, the promotion of legal and regulatory structures designed to conserve and expand economic freedom.

Well, I was proud as I sat here this morning to listen to this great management team talk about what we have done in three-and-a-balf years. But I think it is important for me to say that, whereas they were kind enouqh to pay the tributes to me, the tribute really belongs to all of the people of our department. Because achieving these objectives, and the many sub-objectives and tasks and actions that we set for ou~selves, could not have been accomplished without all of you and your count,erparts throughout the department.

Somebody has talked about my going out into the field. That was fun for me because I always enjoyed the chance to meet the people of our department out there on the front lines. A finer group of people you could never find anywhere.

At the time that I was here before, I mentioned the strong foundation that had been left by my predecessor,

William French Smith, on which we would be expected to build during this term. Well, with your help, we have continued to build, to create, to innovate, and particularly to serve the people of our country.

Obviously, time doesn't permit me to list all of the things that have been accomplished during this period of time by you and the rest of the department. Our efforts against narcotics and terrorism, against organized crime and illegal obscenity have been historical both in the scope of our activities and in the level of success that's been achieved. Equally historical has been, as was mentioned earlier this morning, the passage and implementation of the

Immigration Control and Reform Act of 1986, the most sweeping change in those laws in recent history.

Our protection of civil rights and the principled defense of a truly non-discriminatory society has exceeded any prior effort in this field. And other things like tort reform, sensible antitrust policies and process, and the support of regulatory improvements, also commented on earlier, have contributed to the economic expansion, the longest in the history of modern times in our country which has proved the effectiveness of President Reagan's policies.

I have been proud, with the other leaders of our department, to have worked with you to establish and promote constitutional values, like federalism, separation of powers, religious liberty and limited government, which have been carefully nurtured by our litigation, by our legislative vigilance, and by executive actions during the last several years.

Steve talked about our judicial nominations. And, indeed, I am proud of the people th~t this department has attracted to serve the nation on the federal bench. Harry was kind enough to talk about management improvements. And, indeed, you have cooperated in these improvements, which have shown that our department is capable of meeting the challenges of the last decade of the 21st century and bey.ond.

I am particularly pleased that we have, indeed, tapped that great reservoir of ability in the United States

Attorneys offices, and that we have been able to incorporate that fine leadership of our U.S. attorneys, probably the best group of U.S. attorneys in history, with the broadest and most extensive professional background, into the policy-making roles within our department.

Both Bill Sessions, the Director of the FBI, and

Mike Quinlan commented on the prison uprisings. And I'll mention that, just for a moment, because the real test of an organization and the people in it lies in how they respond to the unexpected and in times of crisis. And for that two-week period, when we had the largest single threat to domestic law enforcement that the United States has ever encountered, two separate incidents occurring simultaneously something that has never happened before in that magnitude the selfless devotion of the people of this department, the 24-hour attention that they gave to it, the giving up of holidays and vacations, and the devotion to duty that was shown by all who participated in that, certainly ranks at the highest level of professionalism and skill and achievement of any organization in our government at any time.

Well, those are some of the things that characterize what I called, three-and-a-half years ago, the finest law firm in the world, the finest law enforcement agencies, and

I the finest department in the government. And as I corne before you today to say goodbye, or at least farewell for now -­ because I certainly hope that I will be able to keep in touch with most of you at some point or another in the future -- I want to thank all of you for what you have done to make this for me a most memorable and happy period of time.

There have been some times that have been better than others, admittedly. But even at the times that were less than the happiest, the support, the friendship, the genuine affection that you all showed was very meaningful to me and to my family. And I'll never forget it.

The people in this department, the lawyers, the law enforcement officers, the support people, are the finest group of professionals that anyone could ask for. The management team, the leadership, those who were appointed by the President or by me, but particularly the career people, who, over long periods of time in their own professional careers, have seen policies change, have seen new things corne in -- sometimes they've seen new things come in, go out and then come in again. But all of them have served with that kind of dedication, with the greatest dedication that anyone could ask of true public servants.

That's why some of the happiest moments for me have been presenting the awards at our annual awards ceremony, as we were able to just a short time ago; to recognize represen­ tatives of these fine people in our career service for what they have done, and why I was so happy this week to appear and watch as President Reagan presented the most distinguished awards to the career service, the Distinguished Rank Awards, to four members of our department, including two are here,

Harry Flickinger and Mike Quinlan. Those are the occasions that, more than anything else, to me will represent the fine group of people, over 72,000 of them, that we have in this department.

There are many people that I would like to thank individually, and obviously I can't. At this time, as it's appropriate to soon turn over the symbols of authority in this department to Dick Thornburgh, who will be an outstanding

Attorney General, a man who will carryon the same philosophy, the philosophy of our President, and the same policies, the policies of our President, in terms of law enf.orcement, in terms of the domestic and national security policies of our country, a man who I am very pleased to have carryon the responsibilities of Attorney General, just as I was pleased to receive them from Bill Smith.

There are not enough words to thank all of this management team that's gathered here on the stage and their colleagues in the management cadre of our department that couldn't fit on the stage. As we have our staff meetings in the morning, the civil litigating heads meetings, the meetings of o_ur law enforcement executives, and the other occasions when we get together, I have always gone away from those sessions tremendously exhilirated and tremendously thankful for the quality of the people that I've been able to work with in this job.

It hasn't just been their skill, their intellect, their knowledge, and their experience. It's been the genuine qualities that they've exhibited a~ human beings. And I know this is a group that I will always remember and hope to stay close to the rest of my life.

Again, I can't single them out, but I'd certainly like to thank my staff. People have talked today about traveling, going overseas, seeing people in the field. It's this staff who has had to scramble to get me there and get me back and change the schedule three and four and five times a day so that I could accommodate the meeting9 that you've heard about. And I'm grateful to all of them for the tremendous

job that they have done.

Under the leadership of Chief of Staff Mark Levin, all of them have just been an outstanding group, and I'm grateful to them. They have been able to say no to you and make you happy when they said it. And that's a rare trait and I'm grateful for it.

To Cathy Appleyard, who fended you off as you tried to get into my office, I'm particularly appreciative for all that she's done.

And, of course, one of the things that made me particularly happy as I was sitting here today and listening to the various speakers was so many of them referred to my

family, because Ursula and Dana and Mike and Ramona have really been a part of this as far as I was concerned, and, I'm happy to see, as far as many of you were concerned. And, of course, I am grateful to them for their support. And when I did lose my temper, it was usually at home, and they got the

brunt of all that.

Finally, I would like to thank one other person -­ well, two people, really. One isn't with us today, but they

both held the same job. That person who is not with us is

Ken Cribb, who duri~g the first year-and-a-half or two years

that I was Attorney General did an outstanding job as my

Counselor~ And when Ken left to go to the White House to

more directly counsel the President, his job was taken by an

extraordinary man who has devoted more to this department

or certainly as much or more to this department, in terms of

his own contribution of ideas, e-f dedication, of loyalty and

integrity, who has suffered the slings and arrows of fortune

that at many times was outrageous, but who has been an

invaluable assistant to me, an invaluable counselor and

adviser, and without whom I would· not have been able to get

through the last year-and-a-half. That, of course, is Brad

Reynolds.

[Applause.]

ATTORNEY GENERAL MEESE: Finally, again, to all of you. I thank you for what has been said today. I hope that we will be leaving behind a foundation on which Dick Thorn­ burgh and Attorneys General after him will continue to build.

Because the essence of this department is not anyone man or one woman or one group of people, but it is the continuing quality of the fine individuals, career and appointed, who have served in this department since 1870, when it became a department, and among its predecessors, as Stan mentioned, all the way back to 1789.

I am proud to have been part of that legend of service which is represented by the Department of Justice. I look forward, as I say, to keeping in touch with as many of you as I possibly can in the future. And I will always be grateful to have had this opportunity to serve with you.

Thank you.

[Applause.]

MR. CHRISTENSEN: Thank you. These proceedings are concluded.